Return of The Classic Who Books

2005: The new series of Doctor Who was on its way. Chris Ecclestone was donning his leather jacket, the Daleks were returning in a new ultra-cool bronze style. We had a new sassy companion. The TARDIS console room had been updated.

2005 also marked the end of the classic Doctor Who book range. The odd thing was that BBC Books said nothing about whether they were ending it or it had just stopped. No new classic Doctor Who original novels were published for seven years. Everyone thought that that was it and we would just have to enjoy the current Doctor’s book adventures.

Suddenly out of the blue, the BBC announced that they would be republishing classic target novels. Hazzah – then they would be publishing a novelisation of Shada. I personally remember dancing when I heard the news.

To top it all the BBC confirmed they were to restart the new classic original novel range. The first to be announced was called “Harvest of Time”. It was to be written by Alistair Reynolds. It was to feature the Third Doctor and The Master and was set during his time on Earth. Wow! So the line is not dead after all. Terribly this book was to come out in 2013. Oh pooh!

Out of the blue (the BBC do this a lot, surprise you when you are not looking.) Aunty Beeb announced another classic original novel! This time titled Wheel of Ice and featuring The Second Doctor. Written by Stephen Baxter, it is due on the second of August 2012.Rumour says that another book is planned to also come out this year. It seems that the big 50th anniversary has revived what most of us thought was a defunct book range – almost like regeneration.